This invention relates to underwater communication and more specifically to a distributed lift system for a signal cable used in radio communication between a submerged submarine and a surface vessel.
A major problem in submarine operation is radio communication while submerged. The severe attenuation of electromagnetic waves in seawater requires that an antenna be placed at or very near the surface of water. The systems currently used for this purpose are either a floating wire antenna or an antenna cable with a single hydrodynamic lifter attached near the free end of the cable. The floating wire system places very severe restrictions on operating depth and speed. The single lift system is better than the floating wire system, but it is also considered inadequate, partly because its size makes it diffficult to handle and stow and partly because its single catenary requires excessive lengths of cable as the submarine goes deeper.
It is thus desirable to improve the speed-depth performance of buoyant cable systems used on submarines to provide radio frequency services while submerged below periscope depth or for some other similar purposes.